by Tracy Rosen, teaching & consulting since 1996, blogging about it here since 2007. All views are my own and you should take them with a grain of salt, I do.
Imagine knowing you have to send your child to school in a language that isn’t his mother tongue. Despite the fact that such a school is available. Despite the fact that part of the boy’s family, albeit extended, can legally attend the school. Despite the fact that he had difficulties in his French school but “is thriving” in his new English school.
My inbox has been very active of late, with submissions to this week’s Carnival of Education.
As carnival host, I have control of the content and form of this week’s post and so I have made the decision to leave out the numerous postings I read that are either trying to sell a product/service that I felt did not have to do with education, or are providing a service that rubs me the wrong way, such as the selling of term papers ;)
So…without further ado… except to point out that the posts are organized solely by order of reception…
— Rachel Rambach sings us a social story/song she wrote for one of her students: Marissa’s Guitar posted at Listen and Learn. She even offers to send you a copy of the story if you contact her. Great stuff!
— Lorri begins her post with this quote that echoes my own concern for the future:
It scares me to know that I will be raising a family in a society were gangs are so prevalent and out of control. Knowing the influence that gangs have on teens and the violence, drugs and general lack of respect they have for society scares me to death. -Bree
— Denise offers a boatload of free math teaching resources: More Free Math Resources posted at Let’s Play Math!. As a first time math teacher (I usually teach English, History, and Ethics) I’ve subscribed to the site!
— OKP has an existential crisis and asks, What do you think is the purpose of high school? Existential Crisis #1 posted at Line 46.
— Matthew Ladner exposes something previously unknown to me – the benefits of illegal private schooling in India, Ghana, Nigeria, and Kenya: Black Market Private Schooling in the Third World posted at Jay P. Greene’s Blog. Makes me want to think of alternatives to some of our own public school crises and reminds me that it needs to take a village, not a commission or board, to raise a child.
— I love that Carol Richtsmeier writes about the things you should never learn to do so you won’t have to do them! I never learned how to work those diaper things. You see, my nephew’s visit last summer coincided with a nasty tummy problem… Scanners, Mowing Lawns & Things You Just Shouldn’t Learn How To Do posted at Bellringers.
— Nancy Flanagan writes, ‘We all lose when kids perceive politics and voting as dirty and dangerous’ in this commentary on children’s perception of the voting process: One Vote Samba posted at Teacher in a Strange Land.
— Matthew Needleman reviews the K12 Online conference and is ‘…in awe of the thinking, planning, and creating that has gone into creating the K12 Online presentations’: K12 Online: Week One Review posted at Creating Lifelong Learners.
and Whitney Hoffman‘s reflective question in response to the post:
The real question is why we look at education as a content delivery system whose effectiveness can be tested by standardized six-sigma-esque methods, rather than as long term research and development of new citizens, who need to be informed, knowledge gathers and synthesizers.
and the fact that many teachers I know are right now trying to figure out how to cram a whack of irrelevant data into their students, knowing full well that their students will not recall the info enough to pass the end of year evaluations. And they are stressed as all get out about it. What a way to end a year.
I’ve got lots more to say about this, but right now I just can’t bring myself to say it. I’ve cited him before, but here I go again, KRS One says it well…
Nothing else to say right now besides… bravo to the students and their Social Studies teacher of IS 318 in the Bronx. You make me happy to be a teacher today.